The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-06-07
INDIAN ARiSTOCRATS.
traits, Manners and Dress Of the Various
Orders of Brahmins.

To study Brahminism, its mysticism,
its almost fatal influence either on its
ievotees or upon those wretched people
who are not of that faith. and who from
that unfortunate circumstance are ac-
cording to the Brahminical theory no
better than dogs. one must go to South
India. There one will learn that the
Brahmin is an autocratic aristocrat and
that neither merit, nor wealth. nor
bravery. nor talent can place any man
ON which crouches the meanest natured
man of his divine origin. And whether
he be Fishnu or SILVA the Brahmin is
an aristocrat. One recognizes that
whatever may be his other qualities the
Brahmin is gentleman-a cultured
and intellectual man of the world, who
recognizes none as his superior and 3
great many as his inferior. The Brah-
min is a striking example of the supe-
riority supposed to be due to the acct
dent of birth. and the further south one
travels i'm India the more marked is this.
In Tanjaze, which is termed the garden
of India. Maddura and Tinnevelly, does
the Brahmin most repay study. Here
under their vast groves the Brahmin
seems not to have heard through the
dense forests the hustle of an enterpris-
ing world. His world is yet the tiny
hand-swept village, with the school
house where the pupil learns by rote
Brahminical nonsense and peculiar Eng
fish phraseology. for the Brahmin
knows that unless he learns English
there is no chance for him to wear the
Government livery, which alike to EuI-
ropean and native is the highest aspira-
ton.
The way in which to distinguish the
Ievotees of Vishnu and SILVA is not
difficult. for men of Vishnu wear on
their foreheads mark similar to this
A, while those of SILVA carry in the
center of their foreheads a round san
dal-wood dot, which is used by Hindos-
tani women for the same purpose a.
are the tiny black sticking-plaster dots
upon the fair faces of our ladies, called
beauty spots" The Vishnuites and
Shivites also carry distinction in
their names. The former take the af-
fix ..Iengar" to their names, while the
latter have LIVER" Not alone this,
the characters of the two are also diff
ferent. The IengarS, it is declared,
are self-Sufiicient race, and are noted
for their cunning. while the Iyers are
said to be humber, more ingenious
and more scholarly inclined. As the
women's names are never known TO the
outside world. and as they carry no
distinguishing marks on their faces.
they are known by their dress. A
woman of the Vishnu caste wears the
folds of her paijama tight across her
knees and thus displays a shapely calf
which may he envied by any woman,
though it be hidden by the petticoat.
The SILVA woman. on the contrary, has
a loose fold hanging on the side of her
right leg. below the knee. The mate
rial from which her garment is made is
of a silky texture, yellowish and red;
it is but single sheet, and forms the
entire wardrobe of noble Brah-
min lady, though her possessions
may be vast, her Jewels the envy of
many an European royal family, and
her descent more illustrious and more
ancient than that of any of the crowned
heads of Europe. Many a Brahmin
ran trace his ancestry for thousand
years, while the family of Udaipur have
records showing them to be over two
thousand years old. A Telugu woman
wears her dress differently from either
of her Tamil sisters, for she wears
close fold in front. Tamil girls who
have not attained the age of puberty
wear a single petticoat, and as the
Brahminical law ordains that a woman
has to marry when she arrives at puber-
ty, it goes without saying that with
marriage the single petticoat has to be
exchanged with the dt0ti. or man-form
of dress, and that she also has TO wear
garments. So rigid are the
Brahmins in their sumptuary laws that
they compel all other castes-men and
women-to wear the petticoat, so that
the most casual observer may be en-
abled to distinguish at a single glance
a Brahmin. The Shivite and the Wish
Mute alone wear the dhoti kind of dress,
being equal in all respects, both having
sprung from the face of Bruma, the
creator. There is also another sect of
Brahmins called Rangi, who live on the
Canarese coast, and are declared by
10th Tamil and Telugu to be lament
ably superstitious and ignorant. 1t Is
the Canarese Brahmins that the
English have made less Roadway than
any other Brahmins.-Cor. San
Francisco Chronicle.
a Deserted French Village.